The Newbie and Short Questions thread

[Tochiro]

To date its passed the 75,000 mark. While this isnt a flop, its not what I’d call a great success either. Personally I’d say that 100,000 units could be called successful for such a niche title. Theres no way it will hit that mark now though, so it will be interesting to see whether Bamco thinks it has done well enough to justify more games. (fingers crossed!)

Anecdotally, the game has been way more hyped among the Macross community than past titles, but has received a lot less mainstream/gane outlet promotional exposure (posters, etc), probably because it launched the same day as two other fairly big titles.

For reference: LTD sales of Artdink Macross Games

Macross Ace Frontier: 160,000

Macross Ultimate Frontier: 170,000

Macross Triangle Frontier: 120,000

Macross Trial Frontier Hybrid Pack: 210,000

Macross Final Frontier Hybrid Pack: 220,000

Macross 30: 75,000

(Sources: vgchratz.com & 4gamer)

[Xard]

Thanks. To be perfectly honest I'm very surprised the PSP games performed so much better. Does this just come down to Frontier's general popularity and visibility when series was still continuing or is this simply case of less marketing...

Very strange.

Well, I just got my copy of Macross 30 today. Looking forward to playing it regardless

Macross Trial Frontier Hybrid Pack: 210,000

Macross Final Frontier Hybrid Pack: 220,000

Wait, in other words Sayonara's BD release has also crossed 200k mark by now? Whoa.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Xard

[azrael]

Thanks. To be perfectly honest I'm very surprised the PSP games performed so much better. Does this just come down to Frontier's general popularity and visibility when series was still continuing or is this simply case of less marketing...

Very strange.

Maybe a little from column A, a little from column B. PSPs are cheaper and more portable for most folks in Japan compared to the larger PS. So buyers may see that gaming-on-the-go more appealing than stationary gaming.

[sketchley]

Thanks. To be perfectly honest I'm very surprised the PSP games performed so much better. Does this just come down to Frontier's general popularity and visibility when series was still continuing or is this simply case of less marketing...

Neither. Portable games, as Azrael posted, and myself and other MW members in Japan have been repeatedly saying over the years, is where the business is at in Japan. Period.

Wait, in other words Sayonara's BD release has also crossed 200k mark by now? Whoa.

Glad that you caught that (that they're movie BRs + game) - those "game" sales have to be taken with a grain of salt as it's nigh impossible to know how many people who purchased those have actually played the game that wsa included with it.

[Tochiro]

Sketchley hit it on the head, as usual. :-)

Portable gaming became dominant in Japan when the current generation of hardware started - it took years before home console sales picked up again and even then they will never reach the same sales figures of the PS2 era. Most free time for gaming happens during the morning/afternoon commute, hence the popularity of mobiles (well, that and Monster Hunter). Also, with the exception of mobile phone games, the gaming demographic skews a lot younger in Japan than in the West, meaning that the bulk of the market often doesnt have a hi-def system or have access to a tv that isnt the main family one. Its also less socially accepted for adults to play console games, especially once theyve entered a company (again, mobile games are the exception to this - and im speaking from first hand experience here).

Anyways, while this is a bit dated, you might find an old podcast I did on the topic a while back to be of some interest:

http://theoutcastpodcast.blogspot.jp/2010/06/out-cast-episode-06-death-of-japanese.html

(the mediafire link still works)

[azrael]

Sketchley hit it on the head, as usual. :-)

Portable gaming became dominant in Japan when the current generation of hardware started - it took years before home console sales picked up again and even then they will never reach the same sales figures of the PS2 era.

Hence, why we're seeing a big shift in gaming from consoles/PC to mobile gaming. If the creators came with a Macross game for iOS/Android, I'm sure it would be big business for the game producer. I'm sure we all see people using their smartphones/tablets playing games, at work or on the daily commute.

[Xard]

Glad that you caught that (that they're movie BRs + game) - those "game" sales have to be taken with a grain of salt as it's nigh impossible to know how many people who purchased those have actually played the game that wsa included with it.

Yeah, this is reason why I got kind of ticked by hybrid packs not getting listed in official BD sales because it was always clear the short playstation games were more of a omake addition to film release rather than vice versa, just like with DYRL (I doubt anyone bought DYRL for the game per se).

What surprised me were the gains in sales since last time I watched. I knew Frontier films sold pretty insane numbers but last time I saw only Utahime was above 200k but now they both are and Sayonara has 10k higher sales which is incredible.

Sketchley hit it on the head, as usual. :-)

Portable

gaming became dominant in Japan when the current generation of hardware

started - it took years before home console sales picked up again and

even then they will never reach the same sales figures of the PS2 era.

Most free time for gaming happens during the morning/afternoon commute,

hence the popularity of mobiles (well, that and Monster Hunter). Also,

with the exception of mobile phone games, the gaming demographic skews a

lot younger in Japan than in the West, meaning that the bulk of the

market often doesnt have a hi-def system or have access to a tv that

isnt the main family one. Its also less socially accepted for adults to

play console games, especially once theyve entered a company (again,

mobile games are the exception to this - and im speaking from first hand

experience here).

Anyways, while this is a bit dated, you might find an old podcast I did on the topic a while back to be of some interest:

http://theoutcastpodcast.blogspot.jp/2010/06/out-cast-episode-06-death-of-japanese.html

(the mediafire link still works)

I knew handheld gaming is big thing but I must admit I really

underestimated the market size. I haven't owned handheld since Gameboy

Advance days nor am I in Japan so I've been out of the loop for long

time anyway...

Still, I didn't expect development had gone so far. On other hand it doesn't surprise me too much.

[VF5SS]

Anyways, while this is a bit dated, you might find an old podcast I did on the topic a while back to be of some interest:

Hey don't be dissin' my Armored Cores!

[VF-15 Banshee]

OK, here's one. Is the form we see Sivil in her actual form or just the body of some poor possessed bridge bunny from the Megaroad 13 fleet or the UNS expeditionary force. I find it just a little hard to believe that the Protoculture made all those ugly Power Rangers monsters for their Evil-Series and made a sexy space elf just for lulz.

[Gubaba]

OK, here's one. Is the form we see Sivil in her actual form or just the body of some poor possessed bridge bunny from the Megaroad 13 fleet or the UNS expeditionary force. I find it just a little hard to believe that the Protoculture made all those ugly Power Rangers monsters for their Evil-Series and made a sexy space elf just for lulz.

Nope, that's her real form.

[Cdisdope]

Did I miss something?!?!

I just watched the original Macross series again and couldn't find Hikaru flying a Super VF-1J, which makes total sense because the first time that we saw the FAST packs was in "Booby Duck" and were placed on Roy's VF-1S.

With that being said...does anyone know why Yamato went on to make a figure that had Hikaru's original VF-1J with Super Parts?

[Gubaba]

Did I miss something?!?!

I just watched the original Macross series again and couldn't find Hikaru flying a Super VF-1J, which makes total sense because the first time that we saw the FAST packs was in "Booby Duck" and were placed on Roy's VF-1S.

With that being said...does anyone know why Yamato went on to make a figure that had Hikaru's original VF-1J with Super Parts?

All the toy and model kit companies made a lot of figures that never appeared in the show... Max and Milia Armored Valks, Valks in camouflage and low-vis colors, "demonstrator" and "roll-out" markings... it's just par for the course.

[Cdisdope]

OK, thanks!

Max and Miria Armored Valks appeared in Episode 27 "愛は流れる” (Love Flows By) <---NOTHING TO SEE HERE FOLKS...KEEP MOVING...

Edited March 25, 2013 by Cdisdope

[Gubaba]

OK, thanks!

Max and Miria Armored Valks appeared in Episode 27 "愛は流れる” (Love Flows By)

Not Super Valks, Armored Valks!

[Cdisdope]

Ah ok...my bad. That's crazy...never seen those before!

[Gubaba]

Ah ok...my bad. That's crazy...never seen those before!

And probably never will again, unless some customizer decides to tackle them...

[CoreyD]

OK, thanks!

Max and Miria Armored Valks appeared in Episode 27 "愛は流れる” (Love Flows By)

Anyone have a screenshot of that? I totally missed it?!

[Gubaba]

Anyone have a screenshot of that? I totally missed it?!

At about 14 minutes in...

EDIT: They also show up in Episode 30, of course.

Edited March 25, 2013 by Gubaba

[CoreyD]

Oh ok, thanks for the screencap.

I thought you were describing m&m red and blue GBP1 armored valks, which I'd never seen before!

[Gubaba]

Ah. No, I said that toy and model companies made a lot of things not in the show, like Max and Milia Armored Valks. Cdisdope said that they showed up in Ep. 27. So I said, "Not Super Valks, Armored Valks!" to indicate that the Max and Milia Armored Valks didn't appear in the show.

[danth]

Short question: what is this?

http://25.media.tumblr.com/cb4f64dd5cea9bd8faef09f23109722d/tumblr_mkbkf56DUK1s5oxc0o1_1280.jpg

I know it's some sort of VF-25 but the head and paint scheme are way more to my liking than the others.

[azrael]

It's the initial sketch of the VF-25 Full Armor.

[antibiotictab]

Short question: what is this?

http://25.media.tumblr.com/cb4f64dd5cea9bd8faef09f23109722d/tumblr_mkbkf56DUK1s5oxc0o1_1280.jpg

I know it's some sort of VF-25 but the head and paint scheme are way more to my liking than the others.

"Today's greenhouse-like lifestyles of the Japanese" is so interesting. Sheryl said "no slums" in a episode.

I have been thinking that the Frontier is Japan, and the Galaxy is America.

Well, It takes courage to tell this thought here.

But according to the Nyan-Cli video clips, young Sheryl looks wandering somewhere in the slums in New York.

And the Galaxy is told as the symbol of extreme capitalism in MF.

[danth]

It's the initial sketch of the VF-25 Full Armor.

Oh...I wish that was the final design.

[Jefuemon]

2 short questions

1. Any pics of the TV cannon fodder flight suits?

2. Has anyone ever done a profile on Lieutenant K. Warmaker?

[Gubaba]

2 short questions

1. Any pics of the TV cannon fodder flight suits?

2. Has anyone ever done a profile on Lieutenant K. Warmaker?

1. I always thought they were either yellow or green.

2. I don't think so.

[VF5SS]

Yeah the grunt guys are usually wearing green suits except for that one time when a guy was dressed just like Hikaru.

[Shaorin]

can anybody enlighten me on which issue of MACROSS CHRONICLE contains the tech sheets for the VF-19S?

[hulagu]

Wait, Warmaker isn't just a placeholder name for those cannon fodder Yammie pilot name decals? Does that name actually come up somewhere?

1. I always thought they were either yellow or green.

2. I don't think so.

Edited April 4, 2013 by hulagu

[Lobizon]

1. Any pics of the TV cannon fodder flight suits?

Wait, Warmaker isn't just a placeholder name for those cannon fodder Yammie pilot name decals? Does that name actually come up somewhere?

I dunno, but the bandai CF has it.

[Gubaba]

Wait, Warmaker isn't just a placeholder name for those cannon fodder Yammie pilot name decals? Does that name actually come up somewhere?

Lt. Warmaker originally appeared on the old Imai model kits, as the pilot of the cannon fodder. I think it's pretty cool that Yamato picked up on that.

[Jefuemon]

Lt. Warmaker originally appeared on the old Imai model kits, as the pilot of the cannon fodder. I think it's pretty cool that Yamato picked up on that.

Exactly. Bandai also used it on some of their 15th anniversary Macross kits. I'm building an old Imai kit now, and plan on using the Warmaker decals.

Thanks for the CF pilot pic!

[Kaldar5]

FlashBack 2012 conjecture.... CLONES!

So it's stated that after Space war I humans used some Zentradi cloning technology to re-establish their population (program in effect May 2010 till 2030), and then spread out establishing colonies. Personally I would assume that clones & the originals would usually separate for long term genetic purposes and to avoid the weird factor; one would get on a colony ship, one would stay, ect.

Also, Zentradi don't know what a baby is, at all. If the cloning machines popped out babies, that wouldn't be battle efficient, and if it did produce babies, they wouldn't have freaked out from just seeing Komilia. (They would have assumed she was just freshly taken out of the machine, not the deculcha story of squeezed out from a person)
So, the clone machines likely produce somewhat capable young adults.

So, is this actually a scene of younger clone Minmay (#2) watching older Minmay leave on the Megaroad-01 ???

Younger (clone?) Minmay watching Megaroad-01 launch:

Older somber Minmay waving to Earth (and her clone she leaves behind?) as she leaves on Megaroad-01


I would normally think it would be like a nostalgia scene similar to old memory shot, and younger isn't really there; but when the hell would Minmay had experience watching a ship that big launch, from outside?
Yes, they show memory shots of young Minmay (with M sweater, jeans, brown coat over that when outside) arguing with parents, getting ready to go to Macross island and SDF-1...
But that is not the same Minmay actually there outside watching MR-01 launch, wearing completely different clothes (white trench, red scarf, dark skirt) While big hat older Minmay waves from the MR-01 window

Nope, I think people on the Megaroad-01 may very well have had the choice to be cloned and have the clone live on Earth before they left. Or vice versa.

Clone Minmay seems kinda subdued, wandering alone not with the crowd.

Edited April 4, 2013 by Kaldar5

[Gubaba]

FlashBack 2012 conjecture.... CLONES!

So it's stated that after Space war I humans used some Zentraedi cloning technology to re-establish their population, and then spread out establishing colonies. Personally I would assume that clones & the originals would separate for long term genetic purposes and to avoid the weird factor; one would get on a colony ship, one would stay, ect.

Also, Zentraedi don't know what a baby is, at all. If the cloning machines popped out babies, that wouldn't be battle efficient, and if it did produce babies, they wouldn't have freaked out from just seeing Komilia. (They would have assumed she was just freshly taken out of the machine, not the deculcha story of squeezed out from a person)

So, the clone machines likely produce somewhat capable young adults.

So, is this actually a scene of younger clone Minmay (#2) watching older Minmay leave on the Megaroad-01 ???

Younger (clone?) Minmay watching Megaroad-01 launch:

Older somber Minmay waving to Earth (and her clone she leaves behind?) as she leaves on Megaroad-01

I would normally think it would be like a nostalgia scene similar to old memory shot, and younger isn't really there; but when the hell would Minmay had experience watching a ship that big launch, from outside?

Yes, they show memory shots of young Minmay (with M sweater, jeans, brown coat over that when outside) arguing with parents, getting ready to go to Macross island and SDF-1...

But that is not the same Minmay actually there outside watching MR-01 launch, wearing completely different clothes (white trench, red scarf, dark skirt) While big hat older Minmay waves from the MR-01 window

Nope, I think people on the Megaroad-01 may very well have had the choice to be cloned and have the clone live on Earth before they left. Or vice versa.

Clone Minmay seems kinda subdued, wandering alone not with the crowd.

Sorry, no.

I mean, yes, cloning was used, and Macross Chronicle states that several "superior" people (like Max) offered their genetic material to help create them, the two Minmays in Flashback is meant to be metaphorical... the old Minmay getting left behind and the new Minmay leaving with the ship.

EDIT: http://macross.anime.net/fallacies/

Edited April 4, 2013 by Gubaba

[Kaldar5]

Sorry, no.

I mean, yes, cloning was used, and Macross Chronicle states that several "superior" people (like Max) offered their genetic material to help create them, the two Minmays in Flashback is meant to be metaphorical... the old Minmay getting left behind and the new Minmay leaving with the ship.

EDIT: http://macross.anime.net/fallacies/

From the link:

(Yep, I have already read this before hand.... and in fact it one of the reasons I wrote the above)

Fallacy: "In Flash Back 2012, Minmay stayed behind on Earth while the Ichijyos embarked on the Megaroad-01."

Explanation: Minmay decides to embark on the Megaroad-01, as confirmed by later chronologies and timelines. In fact, in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross Vol. V: Rhapsody in Love - Macross Love

that was released four years before Flash Back 2012, writer Shoji

Kawamori (who also wrote the last episode of the first Macross series),

has Minmay tell Hikaru and Misa that she also will be on the

colonization ship captained by Misa.

Source of fallacy: Assumption based on the symbolic

image of a younger Minmay ("Sending-Off Minmay") seen on Earth as the

Megaroad launches while Minmay ("Minmay at the Observation Window")

watches from window on the Megaroad-01. Kawamori said he

deliberately put in two Minmays in the Megaroad-01 launch scenes, but he

has since confirmed that Minmay did indeed embark on the ship.

I'm not disagreeing with that.

Yes, Minmay did leave on the Megaroad-01.

Kawamori said he deliberately put in two Minmays in the Megaroad-01 launch scenes.

He later stated that (The) Minmay left on Megaroad-01.

Yep.

This isn't conflicting with the clone hypothesis.

It's a UN Spacy conspiracy!!! *puts on tinfoil hat and gets Nora on the phone*

I mean, yes, cloning was used, and Macross Chronicle states that several

"superior" people (like Max) offered their genetic material to help

create them

And the person directly responsible for freeing an entire race and stopping a war and changing society with her art would not be considered exceptional? I don't think they would undervalue people with artistic skill and only clone more combat soldiers when genetic survival of the human race was the major concern.

Edited April 4, 2013 by Kaldar5